This invention relates to a method and apparatus for rapidly producing lined shirt cuffs and other multi-ply fabric products.
In the production of sleeve cuffs for shirts, a fabric lining or stiffener is first stitched to a precut piece of shirt fabric and a second precut piece of shirt fabric is subsequently stitched over the previously sewn lining and fabric. This provides a stiffener for the shirt cuff which is not visible when the cuff is finished and assists retaining the shape of the cuff, which while flexible, is sufficiently rigid to present a neat uncreased appearance.
In the past, sleeve cuffs have been made from three separate pieces of material, which are precut generally rectangular pieces of a desired size. Of these pieces, one is the lining and the other two are shirt fabric and cover the inner and outer faces of the finished cuff. In the past, such cuffs have been formed by hand in a series of individual operations, the first being to place a piece of the shirt fabric on the lining, fold an edge of the shirt fabric around a side edge of the lining, and then feed the lining and fabric by hand through a sewing machine to stitch the fabric to the lining along the folded edge. Subsequently, the second piece of shirt fabric is aligned with the lining and first piece and is fed by hand through the sewing machine to stitch the fabrics together.
During the initial operation of stitching the first piece of shirt fabric to the lining, it is necessary for the operator to pick up a rectangular piece of the lining, lay the shirt fabric piece on the lining, start the fold of the shirt fabric around the edge of the lining, and manually guide the lining and shirt fabric through the sewing machine to stitch the fabric and liner together. During this sewing operation, the operator must hold both the fabric and the lining against the pull of the sewing machine feed to maintain the fabrics aligned and to avoid bunching of the stitches, and it requires much experience on the part of the operator to exert just the right tension to prevent subsequent bunching of the stitches. This operation, which is repeated for each cuff, requires manual positioning, initial folding, guiding, tensioning, and subsequent cutting of the sewing machine thread to join the liner to a first piece of the cuff fabric. Since it is customary for one operator to perform this stitching operation only, there is fatique and boredom which causes the quality of the stitching to depend on the mood of the operator. Because different shirt fabrics require different tensioning during stitching (for example, a permanent press fabric can require more tensioning than a stretch-knit type fabric) it is not only necessary to initially train the operator but it is also necessary to train the operator to perform this single operation with different fabrics. As a result of the many variables involved in performing this operation, it is difficult to consistently obtain good quality stitching of the first piece of cuff fabric to the lining.